Black holes don’t suck, they get fed! The belief that black holes simply suck in anything that comes near them is wrong. Material can only fall into a black hole when it’s slowed down somehow. In the Circinus galaxy, the gravitational influence of the galaxy's spiral arms drives the gas into the monster's mouth. Yet most of this gas is not doomed, discover why:
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Black holes don’t suck, they get fed!
Black holes don’t suck, they get fed!
 📷 ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/ESO/W. Goesaert et al. #astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science image
Not even our mirrors stay clean forever! 🧽 Optical engineer Jaime González is checking for large particles on a VLT mirror. This step is part of a periodic cleaning process that keeps the mirrors ultra-precise & super-reflective. Find out how this is done:
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A perfect mirror image
A perfect mirror image
 And for a deeper dive:
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ESOblog: Exploding snow and giant puzzles Cleaning the world's biggest telescope mirrors
Exploding snow and giant puzzles
 📷 ESO/N. Schafer #astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science #engineering #technology image
A rising telescope under a rising Sun and Moon! This montage offers a kaleidoscope of moments from the construction of our Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), each one perfectly framed by the #Sun and #Moon behind it. Creating this collage was no small feat: it took Boris Häußler, an ESO astronomer in #Chile, years of meticulous planning to time each frame almost down to the exact second. Discover why:
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A kaleidoscopic view of the ELT
A kaleidoscopic view of the ELT
 📷 B. Häußler/ESO #astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science image
Look up! In search of the darkest and most pristine skies, French astrophotographer Martin Lefranc and colleagues visited our Very Large Telescope (VLT) in #Chile. The sight that they were met with was nothing but surreal. And this mesmerizing fish-eye view captured outside the VLT speaks for itself 🤩 Read more:
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Do look up!
Do look up!
 📷 M. Lefranc/ESO #astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #astrophotography #space #science image
A very hungry planet! 🪐 That little dot is WISPIT 2b, a newborn exoplanet. About 5 times the mass of Jupiter, the planet is eating its way through its dusty cradle as it orbits the host star, a younger version of our Sun 🌞 Taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in #Chile, this image is the first clear detection of a baby planet in a disc with multiple rings. Read more:
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A very hungry planet
A very hungry planet
 📷 ESO/R. F. van Capelleveen et al. #astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science image
As the Milky Way band appears to pour into our Extremely Large Telescope in #Chile, the cranes around it seem to do the same while they further advance the telescope. Once complete, the ELT will be breaking down the light above in unparalleled detail with its huge 39 m mirror. More:
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Milky Way spectator
Milky Way spectator
 📷 C. Letelier/ESO #astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #astrophotography #space #science image
The laser guide star system of our Very Large Telescope (VLT) comes into action in this photo, tracking its orange beams all the way from Cerro Paranal to the skies.⁠ The lasers create artificial stars –seen here as a dot at the end of the beams– that allow us to measure and correct atmospheric turbulence, delivering sharp images.
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Pointing out the stars above the residencia
Pointing out the stars above the residencia
 📷 ESO/N. Schafer #astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science image
Sailing beneath a sea of stars! Feast your eyes on this stunning image of our Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) underneath a gorgeous starry night sky in #Chile. It almost looks like a ship cresting a great, shadowy wave. ⛵️🌊 Read more:
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Sailing beneath a sea of stars
Sailing beneath a sea of stars
 📷 P. Romaniuk/ESO #astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science image